Broken Guantanamo Promises

At first glance it appears to be a hit on Obama about his failure to deliver on closing Guantanamo. But the WaPo piece merely offers cover, dutifully so. It was the fault of the Congress, it was the popular fear of harboring terrorists on American soil (the stupidest claim ever).

Still, it calls him inept, so I can live with it.

For more than two years, the White House’s plans had been undermined by political miscalculations, confusion and timidity in the face of mounting congressional opposition, according to some inside the administration as well as on Capitol Hill. Indeed, the failed effort to close Guantanamo was reflective of the aspects of Obama’s leadership style that continue to distress his liberal base — a willingness to allow room for compromise and a passivity that at times permits opponents to set the agenda.

It's just too fine a legal point to explain the rights conferred upon Gitmo detainees upon entering our court system, and why this weakens the chance of conviction.

Obama simply miscalculated out of pure, stupid ignorance, that somehow he could take a campaign talking point, turn it into a Presidential edict, and show the country how the moron Bush had mucked it all up.

In the end it was merely a "vote for me because I'm not George Bush" talking point. When the rubber met the road, the boy-President found out some things are not so easily trumped by his "soaring rhetoric". His team warned him that the public by and large did not give a rats ass about Gitmo detainees, and he'd pay a heavy political price for loving on them. In the end he decided not to take that hit, blame others for his fecklessness, and move on to the next pretty colored balloon.